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Arcie may have better Physical Attack than Special Attack, but it can still pull off a decent Sunny Day set to surprise it's usual counters in UU. With Intimidate, Leftovers, and the EVs Arcanine has the Bulk to set up. Sunny Day reduces it's weakness to Water-type attacks, boosts its STAB Fire Blast, makes Solarbeam not have to charge which gives it a way to deal with Water types, and makes Morning Sun recover two-thirds of its HP.

Although Arcanine faces competition with Darmantian, who also sports Flare Blitz but as well as access to Sheer Force and a higher attack, Arcanine, unlike Darmantian, it gets Intimidate and Extremespeed and its defenses, unlike Darmantian, isn't a complete mess. Anyways, this set is pretty simple. Flare Blitz for STAB. Extremespeed picks off weakened foe. Wild Charge attacks flyings and waters. Close Combat nails Dark types and hits Empoleon hard. You can use EB if you want to feign a Choice Band to lure out stuff to hit hard.

This set takes advantage of Arcanine's decent Sp. Atk to nail his primary counter, Gligar, with Hidden Power (Ice). Coming off of his base 100 Sp. Atk, it hits hard. After that, it's just a standard UU Arcanine. Flare Blitz is an amazing STAB that blows away anything not named Chandelure or some other resist. Close Combat is another great high base power move that hits Rock types, Wild Charge nails Water types and stops Chandelure from walling him. He's lucky enough to be blessed with 3 great abilities, and you can use any one you want. I use Justified because I already run Chandelure and switching in on things like Weavile's Night Slash is fun, but Flash Fire is great for stopping Victini and Chandelure, while Intimidate is great for slower stall-based teams.

"Let's look at it this way; think of how stupid the average person is... Then realize that half of them are even stupider than that!"
~George Carlin
Credit to Sworn Metalhead

An odd set, I thought I would throw out there. Mainly special attacking set. With few pokemon resisting both Dragon and fire moves. Snarl is another special attacking move that could be used to lower the special attack of others. And extremespeed is there to finish off anything.

I like a good fight, and I NEVER turn off the power when I'm about to lose a battle. Because of others doing this, and me not turning off, my record does not look how it should. It's shame that the pokemon world allows these cowards to escape a loss.

If more people don't do this, then pokemon battling will become more fair and fun.

If anyone wants to battle, I'm up for it. My Immence Salamences need their training.

A generic Pokemon known as the Legendary Pokemon. And its stats and Abilities help that show like a racehorse taking second place. Good HP, Great Attack and Sp.Atk, Good-bordering-Great Speed, and Average Defense and Sp.Def combines quite well with the old bones - Intimidate and Flash Fire - or Arcanine's new chew-toy - Justified. Yes, you do suffer from being a Fire Type in this Generation and the last one, but the Stats, Abilities, and Move Variety balance out quite nicely.

I like the idea of Flare Blitz, but I also like the idea of keeping my Base 90 HP as high as possible in case of emergency. Overheat and Sp.Atk have the same reasoning for me as well. Then again, the Physical STAB pool is lacking in power otherwise. As for Mixed sets, dropping your Defense Stat via Nature and using a Special STAB Move would benefit from Intimidate Ability to lower your opponent's Attack.

One of the most underrated Pokémon, and probably the best defensive Fire-type Pokémon in the game behind Ho-Oh and Heatran. Has the potential to be extremely tough to break, assuming you pack something to deal with entry hazards and/or status such as Xatu, or Blastoise. Morning Sun provides decent recovery, and heals off entry hazards, weak physical hits, and Flare Blitz's annoying recoil, and is the main reason why Arcanine is able to stand up to so many threats without breaking a sweat. Flare Blitz in conjunction with Morning Sun allows Arcanine to essentially spam a base 120 power, STAB boosted Fire-type attack with a chance to burn with no side effects, this allowing it to dish out some serious damage, unlike other strong defensive Pokémon, such as Dusclops. ExtremeSpeed lets Arcanine also function as a pseudo-revenge killer of sorts, picking off weakened Pokémon that the rest of the team may not be able to outspeed and defeat themselves. Will-O-Wisp, despite its aggravatingly low accuracy, when used can turn a possibly dangerous physical attacker into something that can barley scratch Arcanine, and if used in conjunction with Intimidate, it can even turn Pokémon that would commonly destroy Arcanine, such as Flygon, into setup bait. The EV spread is simple. It maxes out Arcanine's physical bulk, and the leftover 4 EVs are put into speed, as they wouldn't generally do anything useful, and being able to win a speed tie with other defensive Arcanine, which is extremely rare, but may come in useful.

With the ability to have it's fire type attack raised if hit by a fire type move (first time it get's hit) and an immunity to fire type attacks, This is one of the really good combos that is good for STABing.

Another move that I would suggest for a replacement to Thunder Fang would be Retaliate. This is because Retaliate gets stronger if you had a Pokémon knocked out in the previous round. When you add that to the fact Arcanine is already a beast, This makes him even more so. That plus the fact you could use him to be more like a "Punisher" role on your team by having him sent out exactly after one of your Pokémon fainted in the previous turn.

Heck yeah! I've been waiting for this one! Now that that's out of my system...Arcanine has always been a personal favorite of mine. Awesome design aside, Arcanine has one of the best base stat totals in the entire game. A grand total of 555: to put things in perspective, top tier threat Volcarona has a base stat total of 550. Everything with better overall stats either is crippled with a useless Ability (Slaking), is a pesudo-Legendary (Garchomp), or is a Legendary (Latios). So why isn't Arcanine a bigger threat than it is? Ironically, it is probably its stats that are letting it down. Volcarona may have lower overall stats, but they're focused where it needs them. Arcanine has a good mix of offense, defense, and an okay Speed, but in this day and age's battling environment? Arcanine couldn't keep up with the times, and its movepool, although much improved from the last Generation, is probably not sufficient to restore its former glory. Oh, and Stealth Rock weak, but that one move pretty much killed off the use of most Fire types.

"We can get past it sir!" "No you can't. Not without help." "Commander, you don't have the firepower." "I've got the mass." "Solid copy. Hit 'em hard boss." "You're on your own Noble. Carter out." If you know what video game cutscene that conversation came from, you know how to play this Arcanine. Earlier I said Arcanine had good defenses but with Stealth Rock, sand everywhere, and all the new harder-hitting Pokemon, you might not realize it. And although its movepool has improved, those new attacks don't encourage survivability. So go out on your own terms & take something down with you! Flare Blitz has been a standard since Arcanine got its paws on it; use it. Outrage is a new toy the B2/W2 Move Tutors gave Arcanine, something that helps stand Arcanine out some. Fire and Dragon combined hits every Pokemon in the game for at least neutral damage except for Heatran...who will hate learning that Arcanine now knows Close Combat! This one move makes Arcanine's coverage absolutely perfect (despite its flaws) and finally means Arcanine can do something respectable to Tyranitar. Before I go on, I'd like to point something out; these three attacks each have an unmodified power of 120. The only Pokemon I can name off the top of my head who can also run that many Power-moves are Uber-tier Dragons (Rayquaza, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem-alt forms). Sadly, all these attacks have crippling drawbacks: Flare Blitz's recoil, Outrage's confusion, and Close Combat's defensive drops. I personally don't like it, but the alternative is to go mixed: I'll let someone else write up a mixed set. The final moveslot is a tossup. Wild Charge is an improvement over Thunder Fang that also shares Flare Blitz's recoil: use it if you want more coverage. Extremespeed is priority that Arcanine could certainly use, and isn't spread around to too many Pokemon: use it for that and for a, "yeah it's a self-inflicted KO but I just damaged something important" moment.
Arcanine has three good Abilities, and any of them can work. Flash Fire gives a useful immunity & thus a free chance to switch in; it also powers up Flare Blitz. Intimidate gives Arcanine a temporary boost to its survivability by weakening its opponent's Attack stat: either they switch, or have to fight with a lowered stat. Justified gives Arcanine's Attack a boost when hit by a Dark type attack; it's not an immunity but if you know you can survive the hit, why pass up the free boost?
Jolly is the preferred Nature here. Adamant could be used instead, but at Base 95 Speed, Arcanine is outrun by a lot of threats. Either works, just decide if the Attack boost is worth it for you over the Speed boost.
Arcanine's defenses are not going to be on display much even with a different moveset (for reasons already mentioned), and with its best moves leaving it vulnerable in some way? A Choice Item could be used instead but Life Orb's ability to switch attacks is much preferred. Plus, you won't automatically KO yourself because you switched into Stealth Rocks for the third time.

Other Options: This set is a "suicide physical sweeper" and as such doesn't have many other options that work here. (They work elsewhere, like Dragon Pulse on a mixed sweeper, though) Of note, however, are Double Edge and Thrash. The Normal typed versions of Flare Blitz and Outrage (respectively) won't add coverage and your other moves will usually be hitting harder, but they deserve a mention simply because they also have an unboosted power of 120; that's right, Arcanine can learn five different attacks of that power. Eat your heart out Terrakion and Garchomp.

† I am a Christian and proud of it! Copy and paste this if you are too.†

-Take up thy cross and follow Christ Jesus.
~Don't underestimate my God~
♥I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. If you do too and aren't scared to admit it, then copy and paste this in your signature.♥

I don't calculate stat values, I don't use cheating devices, I don't breed my way to perfection, and I don't care about natures. I catch my Pokemon the way they are, and treat them like individuals instead of brainless drones. If you use this philosophy, copy & paste this into your signature. (Started by Tyranitar, "I don't use "uber" Pokemon," edited out by me because I do use "uber" Pokemon on occasion.)

Not a big fire-type fan but i love Arc.
Item: Life Orb
Moveset:
Flare Blitz
Close Combat
Wild Charge
Extremespeed

Pretty Standard. Flare for stab. Close Combat/ Wild Charge for coverage and extremespeed for that last hit.

Item: Life Orb
Heat Wave
Outrage
Crunch
Extremespeed

Not as standard but something i like to use. Heat Wave is still usable because it has decent specail attack, gets stab and helps if attack is lowered. also works in doubles, etc. Outrage is for the ever popular dragons. Not needed as much in UU but if you feel like taking it up to high teirs its really useful. Crunch gan help cover Psychics and such while extremespeed can help get it the last hit.
Abilities: Either set can use Flash Fire or Intimidate. For the later set i perfer flash fire because it helps get that extra boost for heat wave.

Pokemon can be used in more than one way....the key to a good battle strategy is the element of surprise. Not many people expect to have metronome, to have swagger, or to be a special sweeper. But that dosnt mean that they suck...that just mean they have the advantage over you,

Pretty self-explanatory, just use whichever move fits the situation best. Ability really doesn't matter, but intimidate is usually the better option for doubles while flash fire is better for singles. Use either an adamant or jolly nature (I just prefer speed over power). A real generic set, the only difference from other Arcanine is that wild charge is substituted for crunch. Arcanine can accomplish much, but he still needs help from his team. Rapid spinners and wish passers are absolutely necessary to keep him alive, as stealth rock combined with life orb and flare blitz recoil will make him faint ridiculously fast. Bulky water-types are also good to take surfs for Arcanine. Personally, I like to use Arcanine with Vaporeon and Donphan.

However, it has competition from other physical fire types with more focused stats (like Darmanitan) and superior movepools (like Infernape and Victini). Arcanine has a bit of both. Sort of.
Arcanine has three very good abilities to use: the best being Flash Fire for switching into Will-o-Wisps. Intimidate isn't as great, but is still a wonderful move. Justified is Arcanine's best way of boosting attack, and has Morning Sun to replenish the damage from the attacks.
The fifth generation gave Arcanine two excellent physical attacks: Wild Charge and Close Combat. Both moves combine beautifully with STAB Flare Blitz and Extremespeed. Well, that's a moveset! Let's get to them!

Overview:
Arcanine is a solid Fire-type that's been around for a while (as we know). It is quite balanced overall with a Bast Stat Total of 555, which is quite high. Its lowest stats are its base 80 Defense and Sp. Defense, which are still solid. Arcanine has a good 110/100/95 offenses, which are helpful. Arcanine's real issues are a Stealth Rock weakness (due to its Fire typing), a good but not excellent movepool, and still good but not great Speed (which it can make up for). Still, Arcanine is no slouch and can do an awesome job on many teams.

Abilities:

Intimidate: Lowers the opposing team's Attack by one stage when Arcanine switches in. A good ability for a bulky Arcanine, less useful for sweeping. Flash Fire: Arcanine is immune to Fire-type moves and gets a one-time boost to its Fire moves when hit by one. This is great for sweepers, as Arcanine can switch in on a predicted Fire move aimed at an ally for a boost. Justified: Arcanine's Attack goes up one stat every time it gets hit by a Dark-type move. A good ability for some, but this ability is usually better for Pokemon that have some resistance to Dark.

This set may make Arcanine into a couple-hit wonder, but those hits will demolish so many things along the way. Flare Blitz is the best physical Fire move Arcanine has and acts as the same-type-attack-bonus (STAB) move. The recoil on the move is pretty severe, as 1/3 of the damage dealt will be inflicted on Arcanine, but the power is still crazy. Wild Charge give coverage on Water-types, but also has recoil. Close Combat mostly covers Rock-types and gives good coverage overall at the cost of lowering Arcanine's defenses by one stage. Extremespeed rounds out the set by giving Arcanine a priority move that bypasses Speed and still hits hard, which is especially useful against fast threats and revenge killing weakened opponents.

The item choice depends on if you want extra power with the downside of recoil from Life Orb or if you want some HP recovery from Leftovers. The nature choice depends on if you want more Attack (Adamant) or Speed (Jolly). The EVs shown maximize Attack and Speed, while the leftover in Sp. Defense is to give Download Pokemon a boost to their less useful Attack stat. Note that the EVs can be changed to have a lot more in HP and Sp. Defense while keeping Attack at max. This makes Arcanine more bulky and helps with the recoil from Flare Blitz and Wild Charge (Leftovers should be run in this case).

This set uses Arcanine's good Sp. Attack as a slight surprise factor. Note that a teammate will need to set up sun for Arcanine, as Arcanine doesn't have a lot of flexibility to set up its own sun. The Fire-type move choice comes down to more power (Fire Blast) or more accuracy and PP (Flamethrower). Solarbeam gives good coverage with Fire, as it covers Water, Rock, and Ground (all of which hit Arcanine super-effectively) and works well in the sun since it doesn't need to take a turn to charge up. The Hidden Power type is Ground to cover other Fire types and gives good coverage overall. Dragon Pulse rounds out the set by hitting neutrally overall and gets things like Kingdra super-effectively.

Life Orb is used to increase damage output. The nature choice is similar to the above set, but this time, Sp. Attack is what is important, so choose between more power or Speed.

Other Options:
-A bulky Intimidate set can be interesting, although Arcanine's only recovery is Morning Sun which can be unreliable at times.
-Speaking of which, Morning Sun can be run in either of the above sets and actually works great with the sun sweeper. Replace Dragon Pulse is you want to run it.
-Arcanine can use Crunch or Bulldoze for some coverage, but its other moves seem to work better.

Checks and Counters:
The best way to take down Arcanine is with entry hazards, as Arcanine is hit by all three kinds and is especially vulnerable to Stealth Rock. This really limits the physical sweeper, who is already quite frail from all the recoil moves, and can be annoying for the sun sweeper, as it needs to switch out on occasion so a teammate can reset the sun. Bulky Water-types can get the drop on Arcanine, especially Swampert (and Quagsire if he happens to show up for some reason). Fast and powerful Pokemon can really hurt the sun sweeper set, as Arcanine has no priority and can be revenge killed more easily. Finally, paralysis and Toxic poison can really hinder Arcanine, as it either makes him vulnerable to taking hits or really shortens his lifespan.

Let's face it: ferret-esque Pokemon are the most epic Pokemon ever (to me)!!!!!! Why can't Nintendo make ones that AREN'T NU Pokemon?!? One of these guys in standard would make me quite happy.

Started by jesusfreak94:† I am a Christian and proud of it! Copy and paste this if you are too.†

Nate's Star Player

This week the Legendary Pokémon (according to the Pokédex) Arcanine gets the showtime!

Arcanine is one of the few Gen I Pokémon with OU potential...1) Nice offensive stats, with 110 Attack and 100 Sp Atk2) Decent defenses (90/80/80) and can be even bulkier if it's running Intimidate3) A nice (and extensive) movepool, allowing the Legendary Dog to be either physical, special, mixed or even taking a defensive role and with new toys in this Gen like Close Combat and Wild Charge

...however, Arcanine is in the UU tier for a few reasons...1) Being a Fire-type means it's vulnerable to the omnipresent Stealth Rock, taking 25% of its max HP every time Arcanine gets the switch-in not to mention it's weak to some of the most common types in the game, like Ground and Rock2) 95 Speed is good, however most of the top threats in the metagame have 100 or higher Speed (for example Flygon, which is in the same tier as Arcanine has 100)3) Some of the moves have drawbacks like recoil or lowering Arcanine's stats

Ability Compendium...Intimidate: Allows Arcanine to take less damage from physical moves by lowering the opponents' Attack by one stage every time Arcanine gets the switch-in. Useless against special attackers or Pokémon with Clear Body, Hyper Cutter or White Smoke.Flash Fire: Makes Arcanine's Fire-type moves more powerful if Arcanine is hit by a Fire-type move, while taking no damage from the opponents' Fire-type moves.Justified: Increases Arcanine's Attack one stage everytime it's hit with a Dark-type move.Recommended Ability: Either Intimidate or Flash Fire, depending of which role Arcanine has. Personally I'd go with Flash Fire since an immunity is nice, but Intimidate can save your life sometimes. Justified is very situational and unreliable but can still be used.

Arcana Force 0 - The Fool@Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire/Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
Flare Blitz
Close Combat
Outrage
Wild ChargeImportant Note: Unless you want a dead Legendary Pokémon, NEVER, ever try this set, though it is powerful enough to burninate the opponent's entire team, it will severely injure Arcanine in the process.
Flare Blitz is the STAB move of choice, no questions.
Outrage gets the infamous Fire+Dragon combination, hitting EVERY single Pokémon besides Heatran for neutral damage.
Speaking of Heatran, Close Combat takes care of the evil magma spider and those pesky Rock-types.
The three moves I mentioned before have 120 BP, but all of them have drawbacks balancing the attack power, Flare Blitz's recoil, Outrage's locking and self-confusion inducing effects and Close Combat's self-lowering defenses.
The last move hits Water-types, but hurts Arcanine in the process.
The nature and EVs maximize Arcanine's Attack, meaning more damage (and recoil from certain moves as well).
Life Orb makes Arcanine hitting like a rampaging Rampardos, but the recoil from the item (and the moves) will quickly reduce Arcanine's HP to critical levels, so Leftovers can be used to mitigate the residual damage.
Flash Fire can increase Flare Blitz's power (and recoil), so Intimidate is also an option.

Nate's recommended set@Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire/Intimidate
Nature: Hasty
EVs: Max Speed EVs, the rest can be invested in the offenses (more Sp Atk EVs than Atk EVs)
Flamethrower
Dragon Pulse
Wild Charge
Crunch
This set is more reliable than the suicidal set I mentioned before and a set Nate liked, though the attack power is severely lowered.
Flamethrower gets STAB and is more reliable in terms of power, accuracy and PP compared to Heat Wave and Fire Blast, not to mention Nate hates Flare Blitz's recoil effect.
Dragon Pulse grants the awesome Fire+Dragon coverage and because Nate is allergic to Outrage.
Wild Charge may hurt, but hits Water-types for super effective damage.
Crunch gets a surprising and nasty hit against Ghost and Psychic-types, not to mention the evil chandeliers of darkness will have trouble against that move.
Leftovers adds durability to the Flame Dog, but other items like the Choice items or Life Orb can be considered.

It is better to say it if my puns and jokes are bad, Serebii. It annoys me when others think something about me and don't tell me. The same with movesets. Well, I'm here for that Arcanine...
Arcanine got a great improvement in Gen V: Wild Charge, which has relatively low recoil and is stronger than Thunder Fang. It got Flame Charge as well. And Close Combat. And Outrage!
Flash Fire: Great for a switch-in, isn't it? Intimidate: Well, you can take a physical hit, I guess, but don't expect to take an Earthquake.

The Legendary Pokémon? That's not true!
-Flare Blitz (Pre-evo)
-Wild Charge (TM)
-Extremespeed/Close Combat (Egg)/ Iron Head or Tail(Tutor)/Outrage (Tutor)/Crunch (Pre-evo)
-Extremespeed/Close Combat (Egg)/ Iron Head or Tail (Tutor)/Outrage (Tutor)/Crunch (Pre-evo)
252 Atk 252 Spd 4 HP
Adamant or Jolly
Muscle or Choice Band/Choice Scarf/Leftovers/Shell Bell/Lum Berry
Flash Fire or Intimidate
Seriously, it isn't even a pseudo-legendary. Well, Flare Blitz for STAB. Wild Charge for Water-Types and maybe something else... Extremespeed is a great priority move. But Close Combat hits Rock types. Iromn Head can do the same with a flinch probability and no Defenses lowered, but with less power and coverage. Iron Tail does as well, with great power but with less accuracy. And Outrage hits Dragons and gives Choice Band/Scarf a good use. And Crunch can hit something and lower the opponent's Defense. Well, items. Choice is good, but... Muscle Band boosts all your moves without locking you. Leftovers or Shell Bell if you want to slightly recover from recoil. Lum Berry can remove confusion after Outrage, or make you opponent's Thunder Wave a wasted turn.

Sunset... Errrrrrr... Sun Set
-Fire Blast (TM)/Flamethrower (Pre-evo or TM)/Heat Wave (Tutor)
-Solarbeam (TM)
-Dragon Pulse (Tutor)
-Sunny Day (TM)/Overheat(TM)
252 SAtk 252 Spd 4 HP
Modest or Timid
Help me with item please
Flash Fire
Choose your STAB. Power, PP, Accuracy, consider everything. I would go with Heat Wave, but... Solarbeam covers all weaknesses. Dragon Pulse hits Dragons. Sunny Day because Arcanine literally has no more options, and you may need to set sun again. Or Overheat, but it forces you to switch. Flash Fire if the opponent tries to monopolize; Let's say it will try to set Fire on a Grass-Type who was busing Solarbeam, but you switch and Arcanine takes the Flamethrower or whatever and boosts its STAB move.

ArcaNINE options for your third and fourth slots
-Agility (Pre-evo)/Flame Charge (TM)
-Flare Blitz/Flamethrower/Heat Wave/Fire Blast
-Wild Charge/Iron Head or Tail/Extremespeed/Outrage/Dragon Pulse/Close Combat/Overheat/Crunch
-Wild Charge/Iron Head or Tail/Extremespeed/Outrage/Dragon Pulse/Close Combat/Overheat/Crunch
252 Atk 252 SAtk 4Spd
Help me with item please
Naughty, Lonely, Mild, Rash, Naive or Hasty
So wide mixed movepool. Choose your Speed boosting move, the choose you STAB. Then choose other two moves out of... NINE! ArcaNINE! Serebii may like this one. I guess you could run Flare Blitz and Wild Charge with Overheat so that your Sp. Atk. being lowered isn't so crippling.

This set maximizes Arcanine's ability as a quick killer. Not much likes to be nailed in the butt by a STAB Flare Blitz from this guy. One makes Arcanine just so much better is the move ExtremeSpeed. Wild Charge and Close Combat are great coverage moves as well. Other moves such as Crunch and Morning Sun can be used as well.

The given EV spread allows Arcanine to hurt anything, outspeed common Pokemon like Herracross, (non-scarfed of course) Nidoking, Suicune, and Kingdra (as long as their speed is neutral). It also gives it the promise of outpacing Roserade. With HP and SpD invested, Porygon won't get the exact boost it wanted.

If you want to beat the sh!it out of a wall, add Growlithe to your LC team. If KOs Houndour and Scraggy and Munchlax as long as SR is up. It can 2HKO Slowpoke. Toxic is there for some way to deal with Chinchou, but that could be replaced with Crunch if you put Ferroseed in to deal with non-HP Fire variants and Dratini beats upon Chinchou without Ice Beam.

Arcanine is one of the pokemon that makes me nostalgic... It gets me thinking about the first time I was introduced to pokemon... Gen I was and still the best generation for me for that simple fact. Other generations are good, and the game is improving and ever changing but the first generation has it's place in my heart as well, I think, to the most people that had 6 to 10 YO when it first came out! But let me say that loud and clear... First generation was the kindest generation to fire type pokemon, it introduced charizard, ninetales, arcanine, rapidash, magmar, moltres, flareon and their respective families. While, most of them are not that good in the higher tiers in this metagame, they were all a success in design and overall appeal! No other generation was that great in the fire types that it introduced and 4th generation gave birth to the dreaded stealth rock that messed up every flying, ice, bug and fire types in the game!

Arcanine however still shines as one of the better fire types in UU and that's due to great stats both offesive and defensive... 5th generation was kind to fire types in general, maybe the second best generation of fire types pokemon as well as introducing new fire type moves that has a beneficial side like flame charge. Arcanine has a set of good abilities consiting in intimidate, flash fire and justified with each one have it's own justified reasons to use!

Arcanine's movepool is good enough! It has decent physical attacks as well as good special ones. Most of it's physical moves have negative effects but their power is enough reason to use them. A set consisting of Flame charge, Overheat, Wild charge and Close combat with intimidate as an ability and a defense lowering, speed raising nature. This set allows you to raise arcanine speed wich is essential for it to be more threatening. Flame charge will raise your speed as well as playing the role of your physical fire stab. Wild charge will take care of water types, close combat will take care of rock types and when the opportunity presents itself, overheat is the stronger fire type attack on this set taking care of somewhat strong ground type pokemon that have taken some prior damage. Item wise, you can give it expert belt or life orb but for me leftovers is the better item here!

I've always used nicknames on this Dawg like SWATT K9 , RK9 or Arcane9.

Since movesets have been covered, just note that if you run Arcanine's Intimidate that you risk boosting attack of others who use Defiant. Also it is nice power up on those nice fire attacks upon switching in.

Last edited by 2406Blackbird; 3rd June 2013 at 10:26 PM.

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It's important to remember that darmanitan can outclass arcanine in many roles, so make sure your sets aren't outclassed. I like to use flare blitz/toxic/extremespeed/morning sun with intimidate and max defense. It can take massive hits easily, sponging even heavy fighting attacks.

Main counters are swampert and rhyperior, but they will fall to sunny day sets. HP grass could be used to hit them hard, but then you have to run wild charge to hit blastoise and such hard so it isn't really worth it. Will-o-wisp and crunch (for chandelure) could work over toxic and extremespeed on above set.